Page 38 of I Knew You Were Trouble

The following afternoon, I’m back at the Four Seasons in Seoul, in the same suite we occupied last night, now getting ready for Caleb Whitlock’s interview.

Ziggy is waiting for me.

‘Heard you played a bit of a game with the lads last night,’ he says with a glower, as Meredith helps Duncan set up.

I blush. ‘You heard about that.’

‘Was all they could talk about over brunch. I got the full download.’

‘Did they think I wouldn’t pass the test?’

‘I think Aidan was hoping you’d fail. Rest of ’em seem happy you’re staying.’

‘And what does Aidan McArthur say about me now?’

Ziggy gave a shrug. ‘Wouldn’t say he’s over the moon about it but he’s promised to try and keep the peace.’

‘Good.’

His expression alters. ‘And what if you’d fucked it all up?’

I shift my position. ‘Then I would have fallen on my sword.’

Ziggy doesn’t look impressed. ‘That sword belongs to Silverpix, love. And I would have been left without yet another director. You pull a stunt like that again, you be sure to run it past me first. I don’t need any more drama on my tour. Just film them and stay out of the way.’

I exchange a look with Duncan.

‘Sorry,’ I mutter. ‘Won’t happen again.’

My mind goes back to last night, when Aidan had occupied my thoughts in a different way. I’ve told myself that that won’t happen again either.

Ziggy waits for Cal to arrive, then departs. I’m thrilled that Cal’s here willingly, that I didn’t have to cojole him into having an interview. He lets Meredith fuss around him, applying his make-up, whilst Duncan and I check we’re content with the lighting set-up. Alone with him in the room, Cal’s answered every one of my questions for the last hour, regaling me with hilarious stories about the band and making me laugh. With the amount of material he’s giving me, I could make a documentary based on this interview alone.

Yet there’s one topic he’s avoided completely.

‘Can we talk about Bianca Lawson?’

When I ask the crunch question, I watch his reaction in the monitor, having set up one camera with a close-up of Cal’s face purely for that reason. His eyes go to the floor, and he winces at the mere mention of her name.

‘I mean, sure, we can,’ he says after a moment, with a shrug. ‘Sort of a waste of oxygen though, if you ask me.’

‘Did you know Bianca’s had death threats in the last two years?’

If he did know, I note, he isn’t giving anything away. He sucks in his cheeks. ‘Yeah, well, she should have thought about that before she started tweeting about me.’

‘You’re saying you think Bianca knew she would get death threats when she said what she said?’

‘I’m sure she didn’t think that, no. But even I could have told her that tweeting something like that was gonna be a dumbass move. Not with our fan base, mate. They’re like pretty little Rottweilers.’

‘Two years ago, she had to delete all of her social media accounts.’

He runs his fingers through mounds of curly hair. ‘Maybe she didn’t have anything decent to say.’

‘Perhaps you could talk me through what happened? The night before Bianca sent the tweet? Why do you think she said what she said?’

He shifts in his chair. ‘Lex, I don’t want the girl featuring in the doc, alright? We can get it done without her name being mentioned.’

‘Cal, your name is synonymous with that tweet, and the resulting song, which releases very soon to massive amounts of buzz. The fans want to know your reaction. We can’t pretend that this is just like any other song. That it came out of nowhere. I promise it will be a small mention. We don’t have to dwell on the issue. Alright?’

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